10/04/2011

Candidates Announced for 1st GOP Economic Debate

Last week, we blogged about the Bloomberg TV / The Washington Post first Republican Presidential debate focused solely on the economy. Today, we are pulling back the curtain for the Oct. 11th event to reveal the participating candidates, the format, and some prominent additions to Bloomberg's line-up of reporters/commentators.

Republican debate logo Candidates:
- Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann
- businessman Herman Cain
- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
- former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman
- Texas Rep. Ron Paul
- Texas Gov. Rick Perry
- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
- former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum

The candidates will outline their economic and job creation proposals in a unique format: seated side-by-side at a round table facing the hosts and surrounded by audience members. This format will facilitate serious and substantive debate on issues of vital importance to the country.

As part of the special 2012 campaign coverage, former Senator John Sununu Jr. (R-NH) and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd have joined the Bloomberg team to provide insight and analysis of the debate and duration of the election cycle. The October 11th debate will be moderated by Charlie Rose, along with Washington Post political correspondent Karen Tumulty and Bloomberg TV White House correspondent Julianna Goldman.

Here's the press release.

 

The Bloomberg TV team

09/28/2011

Bloomberg TV and The Washington Post Present Republican Presidential Debate Oct. 11

The candidates. The economy. The debate. Who will be the next GOP presidential nominee?

Bloomberg Television and The Washington Post, in partnership with WBIN-TV and host Dartmouth College, will present the first debate of the 2012 campaign focused exclusively on the issues voters consider most important - the economy, debt, deficits, taxes, trade and jobs. Moderated by Charlie Rose, The Washington Post political correspondent Karen Tumulty and Bloomberg White House correspondent Julianna Goldman.

09/18/2011

Bloomberg Pushes Boundaries in Mobile Radio with New App for iPhone & iPod Touch

Radio+ screen shot Former President Bill Clinton; George Soros, the billionaire best known for breaking the Bank of England, George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece; and Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund --They've all been guests on Bloomberg Radio, and now you'll be able to listen to them and others on your iPhone and iPod touch through a new app called Bloomberg Radio+ (Plus).

This is the first radio app where you can listen to some of the most preeminent minds in business and finance, and at the same time, be able to view real-time charts, get the latest market information and news, and access guest bios.

In addition to the live breaking financial and business news 24-hours per day, you'll be able to download a vast on-demand library of shows and interviews that you can listen to at your own convenience. (You can create your own personal playlist for offline listening.)

Check it out. It's currently available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or here.

Oke Okaro is the general manager and global head of Bloomberg Mobile

 

09/15/2011

Introducing Personal Finance on Bloomberg.com

Bloomberg Personal Finance Screen Shot FinalStaying on top of your personal finances has never been more important or more challenging. Fixed-income investors struggle to find yields that match the rate of inflation, let alone top it. Stock market investors contend with an uncertain, nerve-wracking environment and the prospect of lower long-term returns.

It all means we need to work even harder to plot a retirement strategy and maximize returns by using smart tax strategies, keeping fees low, and rethinking our mix of assets. Finding your way through the maze of opportunities and minefields in the financial markets today is a full-time job – and many executives are already doing the job of two people.

That's where we come into play.

Bloomberg is extending its expertise in the world of professional finance to personal investing. Today, we are launching a new "Personal Finance" section on Bloomberg.com. Our consumer-friendly site will feature original stories, slideshows, in-depth multimedia special reports, video, and data visualizations. A dedicated staff will explore the angles individual investors need to know about, and connect the financial dots so that they can make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions about managing their money. We'll address issues that impact retirement, investing, real estate and more.

This move furthers Bloomberg.com's transition to a more editorially driven site, where dedicated web teams deliver content tailored for business executives. The original stories in this part of the site will feature a lot of practical knowledge and unique insights. In food terms, we won’t just offer crudités readers could get anywhere. We want to offer them a well-crafted amuse-bouche or two every day—along with a few meals they won’t forget.

Here’s a taste of what we will be covering:-“The Real Cost Of...” – we'll dig into the hidden (or simply untallied) costs of owning a dog, or flying from LA to NYC, or having your child join a marching band. We show how pampering your Australian labradoodle could cost more than $260,000 over a 12-year life span, compared with $66,000 for a mutt. And who knew that joining a high school marching band could cost $7,300 – a year?

Other topics include:

-Biggest Investor Mistakes
-Dividend Stock Tips from an Expert
-Real Estate Bargain-hunting

We hope you'll enjoy the section and look forward to hearing your feedback.

Suzanne Woolley is personal finance editor for bloomberg.com

09/14/2011

Content is Dead; I Don't Think So

Ad bullseyeRecently, there's been some news about online advertising that claims Internet companies aren't making money from ads displayed around original content. Really? Not in our experience.

This is an argument that I thought was worth discussing further.

The argument: Online ads are sold in a supply-and-demand marketplace, and the ever increasing supply of ad impressions drives down pricing (CPM) in an inevitable way that makes all ad-supported content businesses a challenged business model.

My view: I disagree with that generalization.

While over-supply is certainly a real dynamic (and a challenging one for mass-market, general-interest publishers, portals and utilities like email), it is an over-generalization to assert that online advertising is one big marketplace.  If you take the various segments that exist in terms of both audiences and advertisers (teens, retirees, CTOs, consumer packaged goods, enterprise software, etc.) and look at how they use and respond to typical ad formats (direct response, branding, informational), you'll see how different ad markets are formed.

Add to that two critical factors influencing supply/demand: 1) audience targeting and 2) content targeting, and you'll get an even better picture of ad industry segmentation. While both factors get at implicit audience intent to consume a product/service (as opposed to explicit intent, like walking into a store or searching), they can fall along general or specific spectra. More specific is almost always better for determining intent. General achieves wider reach and is usually cheaper. There's clearly a trade-off.

Don't be confused by the comparisons to search advertising. It's obvious that explicit intent is 10x more valuable than implicit intent. Generally speaking, the economics of advertising-driven content businesses can also be quite good as long as the cost of producing quality content is aligned with a high quality audience. For the future, the more interesting question is whether Facebook, Twitter, or quality publishers such as those in the OPA can create ad targeting options that approach the value of search's explicit intent.

Bloomberg Media appeals to a focused and valuable audience of business leaders, and we've learned that there is plenty of demand for that audience and a scarcity of supply of the kind of content that audience needs (if anything, fewer players are investing in high-quality content than before). That means we've been able to grow our audience, sell a higher percentage of our ad inventory *and* increase prices over the past 2+ years. That's an online advertising model that works.

 Kevin Krim is global head of Bloomberg web properties

09/13/2011

Debuting Tonight: TechStars on Bloomberg TV

Techstars screen shot final2 Six companies; six weeks of intense competition; millions of dollars at stake. Airing tonight on Bloomberg Television (9pm ET/PT) is the premiere episode of "TechStars," which invites viewers inside one of the world's most elite tech incubators.  Each week (same time same place), the 30-minute program documents the high stakes pressure, growing pains, and financial rewards of participating in the boot camp for startups.

 

Bloomberg TV’s mentors rank the participants, offer praise and no-holds-barred criticism on the founders’ ideas, products, and execution.
 
Mentors include:
 
-   TechStars founder David Cohen
-   TechStars New York managing director David Tisch
-   Twitter CEO Dick Costolo
-   AOL CEO Tim Armstrong
-   Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley
 
Companies include:
-   Immersive Labs
-   Onswipe
-   To Vie For
-   Shelby (formerly HomeField)
-   Veri (formerly SocratED)
-   Nestio (formerly UrbanApt).
 
 
It's sure to promise drama that captures the long hours, tension-filled meetings, creative energy, and the breakthrough moments that characterize starting a company in an accelerated program.
 
The live hour-long finale is on October 18th.
 
To find Bloomberg Television in your area, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/channel-finder/. The show can also be streamed live here: http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/.

The Bloomberg TV team

08/25/2011

Bloomberg Enters Agreement to Acquire BNA

Bloomberg and BNA issued the following press release today:  

BNA and Bloomberg

Bloomberg Enters Agreement to Acquire BNA

Combination Propels Bloomberg's Expansion into Legal Information Market and Enhances BNA through Bloomberg’s Data and Technology Expertise

Acquisition Increases Bloomberg’s Presence in Washington Market

 

NEW YORK and ARLINGTON, Va. - Bloomberg and BNA today announced that they have entered into an agreement for Bloomberg to acquire all of the outstanding shares of BNA for $39.50 per share in a cash tender offer followed by a merger for a total purchase price of approximately $990 million.  The transaction is expected to close in 2011. 

 

BNA, which is wholly owned by current and former employees, provides important legal, tax and regulatory research and analysis and would become a stand-alone subsidiary of Bloomberg. 

 

Together, Bloomberg and BNA would form a unique combination of premium content, deep subject matter expertise, proprietary data and world class technological capabilities to provide distinctive products and solutions for professionals and decision makers in law, government, business and finance.

 

This acquisition would immediately strengthen Bloomberg’s offerings in the legal information market by complementing Bloomberg Law -- the only legal research system that fully integrates primary research, dockets, company information and proprietary news -- with BNA’s trusted legal, tax and regulatory content.  

 

In addition, the combination would enhance Bloomberg’s coverage and analysis of tax and accounting, labor and employment, healthcare, intellectual property, and telecommunications issues.  

The acquisition would significantly grow Bloomberg’s presence in the Washington, DC area through its multiple operating units, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Government, Bloomberg Law and BNA -- which would work together to provide unparalleled coverage and analysis of U.S. policy and regulatory issues for customers.    

 

"BNA’s employees have built a superior franchise and we are enthusiastic about a Bloomberg-BNA combination that will deliver more premium content to our professional audiences,” said Dan Doctoroff, CEO and President of Bloomberg.  “BNA research and analysis will make Bloomberg’s products even more valuable, and BNA would benefit from our data and technology expertise.”

 

“For more than eight decades, we have provided our subscribers with quality products that allow them to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently,” said Paul N. Wojcik, Chairman and CEO of BNA. “We believe this is the start of a new day, where we will join forces with Bloomberg to extend our premium content to an expanded audience.”

 

“Bloomberg and BNA share many of the same values, including a commitment to deliver high-quality content to customers, employing highly skilled and experienced workers and offering superior customer service,” said Peter Grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg.  “We look forward to welcoming them to the Bloomberg family.”

 

The tender offer is expected to commence by September 8, 2011.  The acquisition is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the merger agreement, including a condition that at least a majority of the outstanding BNA Class A Shares are tendered, that the waiting period under the U.S. Hart-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, has expired or been terminated and other customary conditions.  If the tender offer is completed, untendered shares of BNA are expected to be converted in the subsequent merger into the right to receive the same US$39.50 per share price paid in the tender offer.

 

You can read the complete press release here: Download Press Release 

 

For more information on Bloomberg acquisition of BNA:  Download Q&A

 

Rick Powell is Bloomberg's Chief Communications Officer

08/23/2011

Touchdown for Bloomberg Sports

Player match up You're probably asking, "Bloomberg Sports, really?"

Yes, really.

Bloomberg Sports uses the power of Bloomberg's data and analytics and applies them to the sports world.  Let's face it; we know how competitive fantasy football leagues can be. So we do all the calculations to help sports fans pick their starting lineups each week. We look at all the key factors that impact performance including the weather, competition, team support, and recent stats. We also offer a unique technology-driven Risk/Reward Index, analyzing consistency of the scrutinized players and pointing to long shot opportunities for players whose performance tends to be most unpredictable.

We've worked with Major League Baseball since 2009, and this is our second year with the National Football League. Today, we launched Decision Maker 2011 for football with new features we worked in during the off-season.  First, users can now see a player's potential based on a projection for the entire season.  Also, there's now a crowd polling tool so users can vote on the most compelling weekly match-ups and see the aggregated results of all Decision Maker users.  You can check it out here.

I'm excited to say that we'll be working with two fantasy aces as spokespeople for Decision Maker 2011: Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who has a show on Sirius/XM Runnin' with MJD and WFAN sports radio personality Anita Marks, who is part of the NY Giants broadcast team and also hosts fantasy football shows on Sirius/XM. They'll highlight analytic features of the tool and provide tips.

Stay tuned for insights from them and us throughout the season. Get ready. It's going to be a great one!

 

Bill Squadron, Head of Bloomberg Sports

08/22/2011

Bloomberg Uncovers the Fed's Secret Liquidity Lifelines

Three years and 29,000 pages of Fed documents later, Bloomberg uncovered the who, what, when and a lot more in its investigation of the 21,000 loans to banks totaling as much as $1.2 trillion in public money.

I'll start by saying that Bloomberg was built on the core principle of transparency - fast access to information that could increase capital flow and economic growth. We also believe that the public has a right to know. (For a timeline of Bloomberg's lawsuit against the Fed, see below.)

You can check out our news stories, starting with how Morgan Stanley led banks tapping into fed money, on our Fed Loan Disclosure topic page. (They'll be more to come over the next couple of days.) And, of course, in the spirit of transparency, we've built an interactive data visualization that allows you to view all the numbers so you can answer questions like: What was the largest amount of money any one institution borrowed? Who took advantage of the programs for the longest amount of time? Which foreign institutions received funds?

 The visualization also lets you dive deep into each institution's history with the lending programs, or compare the borrowing habits of multiple institutions with each other. The data can be displayed and sorted based on a number of variables such as peak amount borrowed, average balances, location, or industry. One of the most noteworthy features is being able to look at what company executives were saying when the value of the loans were astronomical. Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, a German commercial property lender, is a good example. Look at what they said when they were borrowing about $21 million per employee.

 

Hypo chart 

 Timeline of Bloomberg's lawsuit against the Fed

 

- May 21, 2008:  Bloomberg files a Freedom of Information Act request. The Fed denies this request

-  Nov. 7, 2008:  Bloomberg files suit to require disclosure [Bloomberg LP v. Federal Reserve, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)].

-  Aug. 24, 2009:  Judge Loretta Preska rules that the Fed must disclose this information

-  Sept. 30, 2009: Fed appeals decision

-  Jan. 12, 2010: U.S. Court of Appeals hears oral arguments

-  March 19, 2010: Appeals court upholds Preska decision

 -  May 4, 2010: Fed and Clearing House ask full U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn Preska ruling

-  Aug. 23, 2010: Full appeals panel refuses to overturn Preska ruling

-  Aug. 27, 2010: Court of Appeals gives Federal Reserve 60 days to decide on taking the case to the Supreme Court

-  Oct. 26, 2010: Federal Reserve decides not to join the Clearing House Association in asking the Supreme Court to consider an appeal.

-  Feb. 19, 2011: U.S. Solicitor General recommends the Supreme Court reject the Clearing House's appeal.

-  March 21, 2011: Supreme Court rejects appeal and orders release of bank loan data

 

 

Meghan Womack, communications for Bloomberg News

08/12/2011

A Record-Breaking Week

What a week. The S&P 500 had the biggest slump since November 2008. U.S. stocks tumbled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ Composite, and Russell 2000 - - all tumultuous.

This point in time is certainly disconcerting for people, especially business and financial professionals. Since Bloomberg has many lenses into the moving markets through our data, news, and analytic tools, we wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of what we are seeing.

The recent market turmoil broke historic highs for market data activity globally, according to Bloomberg’s Research & Development team. Bloomberg processed 43.7 billion ticks on August 10, 2011 (a tick is an upward or downward movement in a security's trades, bids, and offers prices; tick data provides all market activity, not only volume of shares traded, giving investors full market transparency to make more informed trading decisions). This is 46 percent higher than previous days, including peaks in volatility experienced during the Japanese earthquake, the flash crash, and the apex of the financial crisis.

Market ticks 4 
Market tick volume reaches historic highs

Bloomberg.com had some of its biggest traffic days ever, with more than 60 percent increases over average daily unique visitors and page views. The live TV player on Bloomberg.com had nearly three times the amount of unique visitors than what we see on average per day. And, we were the first in reporting the announcement of S&P's downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating on the Bloomberg Professional service.   
 

Home page shot 8.10.11 

Most read stories on Bloomberg.com:

-    U.S. Stocks Fall as S&P 500 Has Biggest Slump Since November 2008

-    S&P Seen Surrendering to Tea Party Costing U.S. Taxpayer

-    Stocks Tumble Most Since 2008 as Treasuries, Gold Surge on S&P Rating Cut

 

Most watched videos on Bloomberg.com:

-   Buffet says 'bet heavily' against double recession

-   Marc Faber says markets 'extremely oversold'

Jim Rogers on U.S. Rating downgrade, global markets

Whether you subscribe to the Bloomberg Professional service, watch our TV station, listen to our radio programs, or visit our web site, we'll continue to keep you informed on the issues that matter most during this concerning time.

 

The Bloomberg Team